EP state lawmakers in DC this week

State Rep. Norma Chavez and state Sen. Eliot Shapleigh were in Washington, D.C., this week to support President Barack Obama's plans to reform health care, including the public health insurance option.Chavez went to D.C. with a delegation that included state Rep. Elliott Naishtat, D-Austin, Joe Arabie of the Texas AFL-CIO and Sergio Esquivel of ACORN, among others.The group planned to meet today with Texas Reps. Henry Cuellar, Silvestre Reyes, Lloyd Doggett, Chet Edwards, Charlie Gonzalez and Ruben Hinojosa. “Health care affects us all and is at the very core of our well being," Chavez said in a prepared statement. "In the last nine years, the cost of health insurance has risen 120% while wages in Texas have only increased 29%. Texas leads the country in the number of uninsured and this is not acceptable."Shapleigh said he attended a border health conference Thursday with Reyes."The border will be the region in America that is most benefited from health care reform," he said.Shapleigh said he didn't see Chavez while they were in D.C.